Arizona State Hockey Lands Next Head Coach, Could Be With Team As Early As This Weekend

A new era of Sun Devil hockey is upon Tempe, Arizona.

Reported by College Hockey News on Monday morning, Arizona State is finalizing details to make Dave Hakstol its next head coach.

Who is Dave Hakstol?

A former professional hockey player in the 1990s, Hakstol has been behind NHL benches for the last decade.

He made his NHL head-coaching debut with the Philadelphia Flyers from 2015 to 2018, along with being an assistant for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He became the first head coach in the history of the expansion Seattle Kraken, coaching in the Pacific Northwest from 2021 to 2024.

Hakstol has college experience under his belt as well. Starting as an assistant with North Dakota in 2000, he became the head coach of the Fighting Hawks in 2004, coaching there for over a decade.

Hakstol helped North Dakota to three regular-season conference titles and four conference tournament titles, including a NCHC regular-season championship in 2015.

Ironically enough, Hakstol was in the ASU coaching conversation alongside Brad Berry, who took over after Hakstol at North Dakota and brought the Hawks a national title in 2016.

Since 2025, Hakstol has been an assistant coach for the Colorado Avalanche, serving as their power play coach as well.

So, What Now?

There is a strong possibility that Hakstol takes over at ASU as early as Friday for the Sun Devils' road matchup against UMass Lowell.

The Colorado Avalanche will now search for a new assistant coach and power play coach. For ASU's coaching situation, it looks a bit more complicated.

Hakstol will still be labeled an "interim" head coach, despite likely having full control of what the ASU staff will look like when he comes to town.

Mike Corbett, who was behind the ASU bench in Greg Powers' absence, will now also be put on paid leave, according to CHN. Corbett was with ASU for their season-opening road trip to Lindenwood, which reportedly made players uncomfortable, given the coaches' relationship with Greg Powers.

The rest of the bench staff remains up in the air, but expect more changes to come as the former North Dakota coach takes over.

After being pump-faked with a Brad Berry hire last week, is Hakstol a downgrade?

While the two have very different approaches to coaching, the consensus around the college hockey space was that either hire would be a slam dunk for the Sun Devils, especially considering the circumstances.

Arizona State travels to Massachusetts for a two-game series against UMass Lowell, Oct. 16 and Oct. 17. They will return home on Nov. 6 and Nov. 8 for two games against Denver.

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